Intertape doubles profit in quarter

Intertape Polymer Group Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit that more than doubled from a year ago, to $5.7 million.

That profit, which equated to 9 cents per share, compared with $2.3 million, or 4 cents per share, during the same quarter a year before.

Meanwhile, the Canadian packaging company with its executive headquarters in Bradenton, saw its sales rise 3.4 percent to $189.3 million.

Company executives said that they reduced Intertape's total debt by $43 million in 2012 and introduced 35 products.

"Our focus for the past few years has been on margin improvement by implementing manufacturing cost reductions and driving favorable product mix changes," said Greg Yull, Intertape's chief executive.

The company declared a dividend of 8 cents per share.

Intertape announced late last month that it plans to move its Columbia, S.C., plant, a $26 million undertaking and investment that also will mean the loss of some jobs there. The company plans to keep the plant in the same region when it completes the project in the first half of 2015.

Intertape expects a charge of $28 million to $32 million in the first quarter.

The company said it would deal with the job cuts through attrition and voluntary severance. The company employs 1,800 at 16 sites, including 10 manufacturing plants in North America and one in Europe.